BEAVER — The mystery of a young teenage girl’s death in a West End campground isn’t likely to be solved for at least a week, Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
The 13-year-old Port Angeles girl was found dead in her tent at about 9:45 a.m. Friday.
She had been camping with her mother and a couple of her mother’s friends at the Tumbling Rapids Campground near Beaver, Deputy Bill Cortani of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Benedict said Sunday: “They were camping. They woke up, and this young lady is dead.”
The girl had no history of illness, Cortani said. Deputies found no evidence of foul play.
“There were no drug parties going on,” Benedict said. “There are no smoking guns.
“At this point, nobody is a suspect for a crime,” the sheriff said.
Cortani said there was no evidence at the campsite that the girl took drugs or drank alcohol, but investigators have not ruled out they might be involved.
Benedict said prescription pain medication was present at the campground.
The sheriff said autopsy and toxicology reports are expected to explain why the girl died.
The autopsy is likely to be conducted early this week, Benedict said.
Results may take a week, he said.
“The death is highly suspicious simply because 13-year-olds don’t routinely die,” Benedict said.
“But it could be from natural causes.”
The Sheriff’s Office won’t release the girl’s name until a death certificate is signed, Benedict said.
The county coroner — which is the county prosecuting attorney — “may not sign a death certificate until we get the toxicology results,” Benedict said.
“They won’t sign a death certificate with an unknown cause of death for a 13-year-old,” he said.
Benedict said the girl and her mother had arrived at the campground a couple of days before the death to stay with a friend of the mother’s, who was living there.
A number of the people at the campground are in “transitional housing,” Benedict said.
Cortani said about five to 10 other sites at the campground were in use.
The mother has since returned to Port Angeles, Benedict said.
The campground, on forestland owned by Rayonier Inc., is located off U.S. Highway 101 near the Sol Duc River.
